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Ted Dibiase Jr. is the latest WWE superstar making movies under their film label. The Marine 2 stars Dibiase as a whole new marine in a whole new adventure, coming to DVD and Blu Ray this month. We got the chance to talk to Dibiase exclusively by phone to promote the movie, and find out what’s coming up for him in the ring.
Crave Online: When you got the part for Marine 2, did you give John Cena a lot of trash talk?
Ted Dibiase: Yeah, John, I think he did a great job in the first movie but the thing about John is he saved his wife. I saved an entire resort. So yeah, I’m a little bit bigger stud than John. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Crave Online: Was part of the deal you wanted to save more people?
Ted Dibiase: Yeah, you know, I had to out do him. He thinks because he has 26” biceps that everybody should be scared of him but not me.
Crave Online: What was the process of becoming the next WWE movie star?
Ted Dibiase: They approached me at a show one night. We were doing Monday Night Raw. They said, “Hey Teddy, we want you to come a day early next week. We want you to read for a movie.” I was excited. I was like okay, sure. I get there the next week and they handed me a script. I looked it over a few times and I thought before I went in there, “This could be a real opportunity.” It’s something I always dreamed about doing but I never in a million years thought after six months of being on TV that I would get a shot at a movie. Sure enough, I went in and I read a few scenes. When I was done, the guys that were in there, the casting people that were in there looked at me and they were like, “Where’d you take acting lessons and how long have you been acting?” I looked down at my watch and said, “About 15 minutes. Ever since I walked through the door.” That was the beginning. They called me a week later and they’re like, “Hey man, we got some good news and some bad news.” Well, what’s the bad news? They said, “Well, the bad news is you’re getting married on December 6th.” I was like, that’s bad? They’re like, “Well, that’s bad because that’s when we’re filming because you got the part in The Marine 2.” I was so excited, I was like well, what part? They’re like, “You got the lead role. You’re the marine.” Then it kind of hit me. I was like oh my gosh. So that’s kind of how it all went down. From there on, it was just an incredible learning experience.
Crave Online: Who budged on the date, the wedding or the movie?
Ted Dibiase: The wedding did. The wedding actually took place October 30th because of that. I tried to prolong it after the movie but the fiancé insisted that we do this right now, so that was about the time I found out that I would be doing the movie.
Crave Online: How did they work the time off into your wrestling schedule?
Ted Dibiase: You know, they can do that through storyline. I was taken off TV for a while because Randy Orton, who now I’m partners with, he actually punted me in the head because I tried to help him and ended up backfiring in my face, so he punted me. In result, I honestly got a concussion, knocked out so that allowed me to film a movie.
Crave Online: Was doing a movie like being solo, versus the tag teams on WWE?
Ted Dibiase: No, it’s not really solo because of all the actors that were in the movie. You’ve got Temuera Morrison, Michael Rooker, Laura Cox who’s my wife in the movie. She’s an Australian actress and they were very good, but I wasn’t familiar with them or used to them like I am Cody and Randy and the guys I work with. It was interesting and it was just another challenge but it was fun. Everybody had great attitudes so that really helped and everybody wanted to make a good film and that’s what happened. So we worked really hard. It was nice though, kind of being in the spotlight, just me. That’s definitely a goal of mine to be a WWE World Champion and I know I can’t do that being part of a tag team, but all in due time.
Crave Online: What kind of fighting did you do as The Marine?
Ted Dibiase: I got there about a week, week and a half before we started filming and I worked with the stunt coordinators. He was a Muay Thai fighter. All the stunt guys who ended up playing the terrorists who come and take over the resort, they were all Muay Thai fighters and that was their background. So I had to learn how to block their kicks, different ways to throw punches and different kicks and throws. In the movie, I do pretty much a Shawn Michaels nip up which I’d never done before, but I did it. It’s pretty impressive. So they pulled a lot out of me that I wasn’t aware that I could do. I’m still holding some of that stuff up my sleeve. I’ve got some moves that I learned that I might wait for Wrestlemania to bust out, when it really counts, when I get my title shot and I know that nobody’s never seen it and I can use it. I think that’ll work to my advantage.
